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Hey guys, I live in St. Louis, Mo and was wondering what good places there were to go rock hunting around this area. Even an hour or two away would not be out of the question. Pretty much I am wanting to just go out on the weekend and find some good specimens. I would like to find some druzy quartz and some samples of galena. If you know of any areas I would appreciate it. Also if you know of any good websites I could get some info on that would be great. Thanks, Rob.

Me again. Just letting you know I found a website that had some good information on places in Missouri. Here is the link if anyone is interested. If you know any places not covered by this link I would still like to know.

i cant really add any info other then shefflers is open or was last year i plan another trip there this spring as for druzy get out and walk a few creeks its almost a common thing to find shiney sparkly crystals on the rocks around here

Robert, get yourself a Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer - can be found at Walmart among other places - then you can get a good idea of the national forest areas to look in - being mindful that often private property is within those borders so just watch for marked boundaries - areas in Washington county are known for druse. Don't think you have to be down in the creek to find it either - don't discount them as often good pieces are found there but often what is in the creeks has been so tumbled by mother nature so that there isn't much sparkle left. The area northeast of Potosi has several locations, but again basically private property over that way but roadcuts, ditches and railroad right of ways are good options. I have heard that some galena has been found but mostly many years ago. Most of this area was surface mined for lead years ago, thus alot of the druse was busted up and now surfaces with erosion.

and probably one of your best bets is to join one of the clubs in St. Louis - you will get a wealth of information there undoubtedly!

I am like Docia on the national forest areas, great places to find druse and sometimes other minerals as well. One of the sites you had posted, you want to be careful with some of that information, like the reference to Elephant Rocks State Park, great place to go visit and look, but def against the law to remove any rocks from there or any other state park for that matter, and not just in Missouri, but most states as well. And the first site on that page looked like Meramac Caverns, which is near me...I wouldnt want to get caught trying to take anything out of a commercial cave like that, in fact I believe most caves in Missouri are considered protected, so be careful with that information as well. There is a commercial operation north of Potosi near Valle Mines, that is listed online, I found it on a google search, that is a fee mine for druse quartz and other minerals. I believe its a similar operation to the museum in Marion, Kentucky that allows rockhounds to come and dig at an old mine for a fee.

I know of a few other locations in the St Louis area that you might want to check out, give me a shout off line for the information.

Ben, I haven't been over in that area much but recently James sent me the link to the following - they show locations over around Branson which isn't a huge distance from where you will be and maybe it will give you some ideas for what is in that area.

guess if I had been working last night I would have seen your post earlier today...as it was I had lunch yesterday with one of my models who lives in the Branson area and he confirmed that there are some new roadcuts in the north end of Branson that contain some nice stuff, apparently he knows of a rockhound or two besides me that go there and find some nice material. Email me offline and I can fill you in on some specifics if you want.

ty you all for the info i have more info i will not be able to stray to far from crane so may have to put it off till later in the summer when days are longer i noticed a RR track on the way with a roadside park just before billings i may stop and see if there is anything there

Ben, being as you are not going to be far from Branson you may well find the same sorts of rocks/minerals there in the Crane area - look around for contruction sites, roadcuts etc. Just a drive around may turn up some good spots. Also another tip I can give you is that if you eat in the local restaurants and talk to the waitress/waiters etc. sometimes you can get some good tips.

one of my favorite locations here was found that way - actually some other customers who were at the place heard us asking about possible sites nearby and they gave us directions.

so anywhere you are going there, hotel front desk, restaurant, gas station etc - just ask!

Thanks for the good info, Can you advise more infor on the place near Valle Mines where you can pay a fee to hunt for rocks? I could not find anyhting on google, probably not search for the right things.

Also do you know any other old mines that will let you look for a fee?

scroll down and email at the link provided for more information, they call them Mineral Blossoms, not druse quartz, but the mines on the property are available for digging for $ 7 per day per person apparently, from the information that I had for them. I might have more information at home, but I am at work right now and best I can do is this google search.

as far as other mines that allow you to hunt for a fee, there are several of us going to the Marion, Kentucky area, next weekend to dig for beautiful fluorite crystals and we will be joined by members of another club as well. The BE Clement Museum is a great organization down there that allows rockhounds to come in on organized digs, and they also have one weekend each month from spring to late fall set aside for rockhounds as well. You pay per bucket of material you find, fee is like $ 20 per person and they will take you out to the mine after you register to dig.

This will be our third year down there and we have found some great material down there in the past few years, plus they have a great museum that one should def take the tour on, some very beautiful specimens on display there and great people there to talk to and deal with as well.

Its only about a four hour interstate drive from the St Louis area. Our dig next weekend is from Friday, April 2nd to Sunday, April 4th. Come down and join us if you wish.

the email addy is the same and there is a phone number you can call to get a permit for prospecting and digging your own druse quartz there as well. The mines in that area were old lead mines and apparently the lead was taken by mule trains to the Bonne Terre area for smelting.

Wow, that looks really cool. Has anyone ever been there?? I used to spend weekends with my family in Washington County MO, probably not too far from this place. Drusy and Galena and Barite is really common around there. This is the first I"ve ever heard of a "dig your own" place in the area. Funky! I'm in NC now, but get back to MO every year to visit family.

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